Professor
.]] Overview The Professor (portrayed by Clive Owen) is a Treadstone operative based out of Barcelona, Spain whose speciality appears to be sniping. He assigned to kill African dictator, Nykwana Wombosi in The Bourne Identity. He successfully kills Wombosi in his own home using his Sig 550 sniper and is then sent over to kill Jason Bourne by orders of Alexander Conklin. When Bourne, accompanied by Marie Kreutz, escape to the French countryside, Centre, to evade Treadstone they stop briefly at Kreutz's step-brother's vacation home. Unfortunately it is currently occupied by the step-brother and his two children. Once given their location the Professor arrives to eliminate his target, killing the family dog and cutting off the phone lines and positioning himself to overlook the home through his sniper scope. Once everyone has taken cover in the basement, Bourne proceeds to confront the assassin. Using a double-barreled shotgun to blow up the home's fuel tank to provide cover, he moves from open ground into the woods to pursue the sniper. Abandoning his position, the Professor moves into the woods and takes new cover in a wheat field, a perfect ambush spot, waiting with his suppresed Sig 550 sniper. Bourne stops just at the edge of the field, both out of sight of the other, and fires his gun into the air. This alarms the birds, who fly into the air briefly before landing again. Unable to detect any sound due to the commotion, the Professor takes out a pistol ( which changes from a Walther p5 compact and a cz 100) and attempts to flee to the woods to get to a better position but is spotted by Bourne. Bourne shoots the Professor who trips and attempts to recover his weapon but is given both barrels by Bourne who reloaded faster, and is interrogated briefly. The Professor talks with Bourne, his humanity apparently resurfaced, even indicating the painful headaches he gets. The Professor dies almost immediately from blood loss, saying, "Look at us. Look at what they make you give." Bourne finds out that he is Treadstone's lone agent in Paris, and sends Kreutz away with the rest of the money for her own safety. He uses the Professor's phone to arrange a meeting with Conklin, which he uses as a distraction to plant a tracking device on Conklin's vehicle and discover the location of the CIA's Paris safe house. The Professor is the only Treadstone operative that identifies a medicine (pills) which may contribute to the assassin's performance. Theoretically, the pills make the operatives more efficient in killing by raising their senses, and aerobic performance. After The Bourne Identity, behavior modifying medicine is not touched on again; although in The Bourne Supremacy Jason is seen visibly affected from headaches, which may be attributed to withdrawal from the medicine. The pills played a larger role in Robert Ludlum's books. The Bourne Conspiracy The Professor's death was different from the film's. When the Professor flees, he finds his cover in a barn. After a gun and fist fight, Bourne throws the Professor through the barn door, shattering it to splinters. Bourne engages the Professor again, until the assailant pulls out a combat knife. Bourne picks up a piece of shrapnel from the barn door and stabs him with it. Trivia *The Professor appears in The Bourne Identity film -- where he is portrayed by Clive Owen -- and the The Bourne Conspiracy. *He was also a piano teacher, as seen before being called upon to take out Bourne. Category: Individuals